A mother and her 11-year-old daughter were among three people reported killed and at least 10 injured in a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, city officials say.
Thursday’s attack, which began at about 3am (00:00 GMT), inflicted the largest number of casualties from a single attack by Russia on Kyiv in weeks.
Ukraine’s military said air defences shot down all 10 ballistic and Iskander cruise missiles launched from Russia’s Bryansk region in the 18th attack on the capital since the start of May.
But falling missile debris often causes damage during such attacks and police said a medical clinic, kindergarten, residential buildings and cars were damaged. Authorities did not say how the three were killed.
“International Children’s Day. At night, RF [Russian Forces] again killed a child in Kyiv,” Andriy Yermak, chief of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, wrote in a tweet, describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “real genocide”.
International Children's Day.
At night, RF again killed a child in Kyiv.
Since 2014, the terrorist country has been committing crimes against small Ukrainians.
From February 24, 2022, no one has any doubts – this is a real genocide. And there will be responsibility for this.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) June 1, 2023
The Kyiv military administration, in a post on the Telegram messaging app, said earlier on Thursday that two children were among the three people killed in Desnianskyi district on the capital’s eastern outskirts.
The Kyiv Independent news outlet reported that multiple explosions were heard in the city in the early hours of Thursday and that the city’s Mayor Vitali Klitschko said emergency workers were responding in the city’s Dniprovskyi district – nearer to the centre of the capital.
Klitschko said on Telegram that a medical clinic had been hit as well as residential buildings.
⚡️Explosions reported in Kyiv.
Numerous explosions were heard in Kyiv early on June 1, as reported by a Kyiv Independent journalist.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 1, 2023
Debris from projectiles shot down by the city’s air defences had fallen in Desnianskyi, according to the city’s military administration, the news outlet reported.
Pictures from the scene of one site posted on social media showed rescue teams attending to residents in buildings, with shattered building materials strewn about on the street outside.
Ukrainian member of parliament Inna Sovsun deplored the deaths of children in “yet another missile attack”.
“The air raid alert is off now, but I cannot sleep. Holding my son’s hand, making sure he sleeps well,” Sovsun wrote in a tweet.
Two children have been killed as the result of yet another missile attack in #Kyiv 30 minutes ago. They went to bed last night, and now they are dead…
The air raid alert is off now, but I cannot sleep. Holding my son’s hand, making sure he sleeps well— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) June 1, 2023
